The Lodging Conference 2026: three HVS authors on what the room said
The Lodging Conference ran 5-8 October 2026 at the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa. HVS filed its attendees' takeaways on 9 October 2026, and Hotel News Resource carried the piece the next day. Three HVS authors contributed, and each takeaway stands on a named author.
The organiser describes the event through its own attendance line: "Over 3,000 Hotel Owners and Executives attended The Lodging Conference this past year, making it the largest hotel development conference in the world." The FAQ carries no year against that sentence, and the organiser has published no 2026 attendance figure. HVS puts this year's gathering at 3,000 industry professionals.
The HVS team on site, and the Tuesday session
HVS says a large team attended from five divisions: Consulting & Valuation, Brokerage & Advisory, Asset Management, Design, and Executive Search.
HVS writes that Rod Clough, MAI, CRE, MRICS, "kicked off Tuesday's general session with our forecast and insights". Clough is President - Americas at HVS. The organiser's agenda places him in the Speed Stats (Part I) slot from 8:25 a.m. to 8:40 a.m. on Tuesday 6 October, with Isaac Collazo of STR | CoStar Group and JP Ford of Lodging Econometrics. The C Suite Update general session follows at 9:00 a.m.
Luigi Major: measured optimism and roughly 5% RevPAR growth
Luigi Major is Managing Director - Advisory at HVS Consulting & Valuation. He writes that 2026 has been the stronger operational year, with RevPAR growth of roughly 5% expected by year-end and further increases anticipated in 2027.
Expenses continue to rise, he writes, and remain a hindrance to profitability. The transaction market has improved, he says, though rising Treasury yields, higher interest rates and renewed inflation concerns have tempered the momentum. The bid-ask gap persists, with buyers and sellers still apart on pricing against financing.
On development, Major reports new supply remaining muted while construction costs stay elevated, which continues to support existing hotels. He names the geopolitical backdrop: ongoing conflicts, inflation and the upcoming elections.
His artificial intelligence line carries urgency. Owners, brands and operators cannot afford to wait, he writes, whether the work is forecasting and labour management or how a hotel appears to a guest using AI tools to search and book. Owner and brand relationships and guest experience recur in his section as the differentiator, particularly in luxury.
Ryan Mark: extended stay, AI robotics and loan maturities
Ryan Mark is Senior Vice President - Mountain West Region at HVS Consulting & Valuation. He reports AI robotics already in back-of-house work such as laundry and vacuuming or carpet cleaning. He puts AI's larger impact on reservation generation, where a direct booking limits the cost of an OTA commission.
Mark expects limited new supply to drive moderate occupancy increases over the next few years. He writes that roughly 40% of all new supply in the pipeline at this time comprises extended-stay products. Lodging Econometrics puts extended stay at 40% of all projects and 34% of all rooms in the United States pipeline, on its Q3 2025 count. Luxury still leads on performance and outlook, Mark writes, because decreases in discretionary spending across the United States are not expected to reach that segment as hard.
His debt item is the sharpest in the piece. Several participants, he writes, raised concern about hotel loan maturities falling due over the next year. Many of those loans originated at significantly lower interest rates. Owners may be forced to sell where revenues do not meet current debt-service requirements. Mark also names Texas and Florida among the hottest development areas, on their favourable tax structures.
Marcus Lee: flat GOP margins against 5% RevPAR growth
Marcus Lee is Executive Vice President - Development at HVS Asset Management & Advisory. He cites CoStar data through July 2026 showing GOP margins flat year over year against RevPAR growth of 5%.
The cause Lee gives is a rise in undistributed expenses at property level, naming administrative and general, technology and utilities. Revenue growth is not reaching profit at every hotel, he writes, which makes understanding where profit is gained or lost the critical work.
Lee reports owners questioning whether franchise fees, brand standards, brand-mandated technology and renovation requirements or PIPs generate incremental revenue or profitability. Brands are responding with flexibility, he writes: longer renovation cycles tied to strong guest satisfaction scores, new conversion-friendly brands, simpler fee structures and more emphasis on ancillary revenue. He puts the renovation question as expected return against prescribed compliance, and points owners to an independent brand and operator selection process and to hotel-management agreement negotiations.
The forecast behind the session, and the attendance lines
HVS points readers to its U.S. Market Pulse for September 2026 for the forecast behind Clough's session. The organiser's FAQ carries its own numbers: over 30 years, more than 36,000 executives have attended; 90% of attendees are based in the United States; and over 85% are presidents, chief executives or run their own company, brand or business unit.